Search This Blog

Back to my Roots, In a Way

Happy Umi no Hi (or as we would say in English, Ocean Day)! Umi no Hi is one of Japan's plentiful national holidays, and is not the only one that is dedicated (arbitrarily?) to some force of nature.

I finished up my training yesterday. They had us work in the store our classroom was located in for a few hours, albeit under supervision. So I greeted customers, helped a few find the items they were looking for, rang up an order slip for a pillow, and helped pack and wrap items at the registers when they were busy. It was a fast-paced few hours, so I can tell that my workdays will always be busy and changing.

I won't lie when I say I'm nervous for tomorrow--my first real day of work. All I can do though is try to remember the things I learned over this past week to the best of my ability and approach all new learning opportunities with a smile and a can-do attitude. I'm trying to keep the Yale Glee Club's unofficial motto in mind here: "Always be the first to help out and the last to complain."

That being said, I had quite a busy day today and was joined by a few special people along the way.

First, I went to check out St. Alban's the only English-language Episcopalian church in Tokyo, if not Japan.

It was a charming wooden structure that the Pastor informed me was built in the post-war period, which explains why it has some prime real estate just a short distance away from Tokyo Tower. It has a decent-sized plot of land with a nursery, a small cabin for boy and girl scouts, office space, and the other trimmings that usually accompany an active church.

I wasn't able to stay for long because there was an ordination happening at the catholic chapel next door and the Pastor (as well as everyone else in the complex) was attending. So I chilled by myself at a coffee house/cafe type thing I found down the street and took advantage of their free wifi and plug space for my phone (for those of you interested, I provided a link to its website under the "Coffee" section of my blog; more detailed description to come).

Then I went and met up with these fun people:

My cousins, Andrew and Brian! They're finishing up an extensive trip through Asia and Tokyo is their final stop in Japan. So together we toured the Meiji Jingu shrine and meandered through Harajuku, enjoying the crowd and the eclectic sights.

Meiji Jingu and the bustling, eclectic Harajuku shopping area are right across the street from each other. It struck me, as I came back here with other people, that this juxtaposition of tradition/serenity and modernity/capitalism/riotous color were what drew me to Japan in the first place eight years ago when I first came with my family on a Yale GALE (Global Alumni Leadership Exchange) trip, not that I was an aluma of the university at the time, merely an aspiring one. Returning here on the eve of my first post-grad job seemed fortuitous in a way, given my jangling nerves and fits of worry that I wouldn't actually be good enough to do it, because it reminded me why I loved Japan in the first place. Now I just have to keep that love in mind through the inevitable frustrations and stresses of working life!

Crepes might help. :)

We finished out the evening with ramen, from my favorite ramen joint, Tsurugi-men! (In case you're interested, HERE'S a link to their website.) This ramen shop's unique feature is that they fry their noodles, so there's this nice crispy layer to them that adds both flavor and texture to the bowl. Their broth is also really rich and meaty, and it stands up GREAT with the thicker, more flavorful noodles.

As a bowl of ramen goes, it's pretty perfect. And it's the first time I've had ramen since I got here, which shocks even me. I've been trying to cook as much as possible (keep your eyes out for a food-themed post later this week!) so I've hardly eaten out at all...

Wish me luck for tomorrow, knock on wood, send up a prayer, what have you. Much obliged all around.

Labels

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sometimes when you're in Tokyo, as wonderful as its bustling atmosphere is, you just want to forget you're in the middle of Tokyo.

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a guy from Sweden who regularly came to Japan on business and he said that despite how much he loved Tokyo he could never live here because of the lack of green space. Tokyo has its parks, of course, like all major cities, but if you want unspoiled greenery you have to be willing to head at least forty minutes outside of the sprawling metropolis limits. In winter this desire to surround oneself with greenery might not matter as much, but now that spring is seeping into the atmosphere and the upcoming sakura season is on everyone's mind (NHK even puts out an annual "forecast" for sakura!) the neon lights and concrete jungle start to feel a little oppressive.

That's when little hideaways like the Sato Sakura Museum and Kohmeisen come in handy.

Accidentally over-caffeinated myself conducting ethnographic research--check
Read 3+ books in a single day--check
Never (yet) pulled an all-nighter--check
Sung at Carnegie Hall--check
Published a poem--check

But now I can add a decidedly interesting item to that list:
Been a hair model in Japan--CHECK.

It's a bit of a long story.

It all starts with coffee, actually, like many of my adventures here in Japan do. I was checking out a coffee shop in the too, too cool area of Daikanyama (no, seriously, that entire neighborhood is just Too Cool for me, I don't even know why I was there). There I met stylist Yusuke, who asked if I wanted to appear in a PR photoshoot for the opening of his salon brand's newest branch, boy Tokyo, Harajuku. They're (wisely!) making a site to appeal to foreign clientele--it's a smart move because it's really hard to find a place that has stylists who truly are comfortab…

Thanks to everyone who has read and followed my journeys in Japan from 2011 to 2017. Your support of my adventures and observations means the world to me.

In celebration of Riceandramen finally hitting 100k views, I am pleased to announce that I will be running a giveaway!

I will send one lucky person a custom box of goodies from Japan that could include (but isn't limited to): snacks, stationary, character goods, traditional Japanese crafts and more. The only limits are weight and size and your imagination (I'll be keeping everything small and light to keep the shipping costs down).

Without further ado, the details and rules of the giveaway are as follows:

Details:

The giveaway will run from today, February 25 2018 JST/ February 24 CST to March 11, 2018 JST/ March 10 CST.You don't have to be in Japan to enter: since almost all of my readers are international, this giveaway will be, too. The winner will be picked at random and notified via p…